Dead among Friends and Neighbors
by Thyra10
Summary: Ten years ago Sookie was turned against her will. She is now trying to create a new life for herself. One evening a sports car drives up Hummingbird Road and Eric gets out. What does he want? Why is he there? And what does this mean for Sookie and her life in Bon Temps? Canon. Spoilers for all the books.
1. Chapter 1

**Dead among Friends and Neighbors**

**A/N:**

This story takes place 16 years after Dead Ever After and is about Sookie and Eric meeting each other again under different circumstances.

The story will have fairly short chapters but I`ll try to post often.

**Charlaine Harris** owns all the characters and the universe this story takes place in. I just wanted to see if I could bring Eric and Sookie back together again.

I want to thank **Suki59** for betaing this story (on top of Sookie the Shieldmaiden).

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**Dead among friends and neighbors**

The night was still young when I heard the car driving up Hummingbird Lane. I`d come out of my hidey-hole an hour ago and was considering having a second TruBlood when the sound of the car made me look out my window. The curse of being a young vampire was needing more blood than the older ones did. At least my blood thirst wasn`t as bad as it had been a few years ago.

It was a red sports car and for a moment my heart stopped, thinking of the times I`d seen a red sports car in my driveway. Actually my heart had stopped ten years ago but as a figure of speech it stopped again now. But this car wasn`t a Corvette, even if it was red. It was one of those electric sports cars. Tesla, I believe they`re called.

So my visitor was someone who was vain but environmentally conscious.

I stepped outside. If it was trouble, I`d rather have it in the driveway I`d had repaved recently, than in my living room. I`d had enough mayhem among Gran`s old furniture. It was a wonder that I still had any of it left.

It was dark outside but as a vampire, I had perfect night vision—one of the few perks that came with being turned. But I still blinked a few times when I saw someone with blond hair in the driver`s seat. Someone tall, so it couldn`t be Pam. And definitely not Karin even if she`d gotten her driver`s license recently. She would never have been allowed to drive alone. Too many accidental deaths that needed to be covered up.

So I stood still—and I`d become very good at that after Hot Rain had taken his final revenge on me for killing Charles Twining and, indirectly, Long Shadow—and waited for Eric to unfold his long limbs and get out of the car. Why this vampire insisted on buying cars that were clearly meant for short men going through a midlife crisis, I would never understand.

"Hello, Eric," I said as if it wasn`t at all strange that a vampire who was supposed to serve another 184 years with his queen and wife—and under no circumstances be alone with me—was standing in my driveway.

He looked as he`d looked 16 years ago but then vampires never changed. Which meant that he still looked like a 23-year-old Viking. He even wore his usual jeans and a black T-shirt, though the design and fabric were different from what they`d been when I`d seen him last.

"Sookie." He nodded.

I was wearing a summer dress, and although the cut was different from the dress I`d worn when I`d first seen Eric at Fangtasia so many years ago, it was—ironically—a white dress with little flowers on it, just like the one I`d worn back then. I guess I`d just never bought into the black leather fashion people assumed vampires would wear.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. Apparently I hadn`t quite managed to curb my curiosity. Or anxiety. To my defense, if Eric was here it had to be because something was wrong with one of his children. And I liked both Pam and Karin. We were The Three Amigas. The Vampire Barbies. The Blonde Horde. The vampire who`d started calling us Eric`s Angels had ended up with a broken arm, though. And missing his tongue. I wasn`t Eric`s child. Or his in any other capacity.

Eric flashed me a quick smile and then shook his head. "On the contrary. Something is right. Or will be."

On the outside I kept standing still but on the inside I changed into defense mode. Was Eric here to correct the fact that I`d been turned? To put me in my final grave? Was he here on orders from Queen Freyda to make sure I wouldn`t be waiting in the wings to snatch her husband when she wasn`t looking?

Which I wasn`t. Waiting in the wings, that is. Or going to snatch her husband. I had been in love with Eric but that ended when he asked me to become his mistress. And when he told me he`d planned all along to turn me even though he knew I didn`t want that.

The irony was that I`d been turned anyway—a fact of life (or death) I truly resented, but had come to accept because the alternative was worse. After long and hard consideration, with Pam locking me up until she was sure I`d come to the right conclusion, I`d found that meeting the sun was suicide even if I was already dead. And I still had enough of my faith to know that suicide was wrong. Fate was something you accepted even if it spat you in the face. When life hands you lemons and all that.

"How is that?" I asked in a neutral voice. I`d gotten so much better at not showing my emotions. I thought I´d been good at it even as a human, but not having any blood rushing around in your veins helped matters tremendously.

"You`re a vampire now," he said as if that explained everything.

"I know that," was my tart reply. Apparently I hadn`t entirely embraced my fangs yet.

"I know you didn`t want that and I`m sorry for you," he continued.

I nodded, though I wanted to kick his shin. Being a vampire wasn`t something I wanted but he definitely had. At least back when we were together.

"What`s done is done." At least I could try to sound casual about it.

"I hear that Pam punished Hot Rain for this."

That made me flash my teeth. Oh, Hot Rain had indeed been punished. Pam had shown a true understanding of the time we lived in and how badly vampires needed good publicity. She`d also understood how I`d needed to stay a part of my community so she`d let the human law deal with Hot Rain first.

She`d made a huge show out of how she—the local, law-abiding vampire—had delivered the outside vampire into police custody. She`d had my human friends get on every news channel they could find, to voice their public support of me even when I was a vampire. And, when I`d gotten over the worst of the bloodlust, I`d been pushed out there in my most human summer dresses, to talk to reporters and go on talk shows, making vampires seem like humans with slight dental problems and on a special diet. There was even some footage of me playing with Tara and JB`s then six-year-old twins.

It had all been coordinated with Felipe de Castro, but Pam had planned the whole PR campaign with a determination one had to admire.

Pam had been a good friend but she hadn`t done all this for me. Not me alone, at least. Vampires had been in need of some good PR now that the first wave of shock and interest after the Great Revelation some years earlier.

But Pam was still a vampire and Hot Rain met the pointed end of a stake in prison. Everyone cried dry tears over the loss.

"Hot Rain has changed his name to Hot Dust," I said and it made Eric laugh for a few seconds.

Then his blue eyes landed on my face and his laugh turned into a smile. "You`ve missed me," he said in that way that was so typical of him. It was half a question and half a statement.

"I haven`t had time to miss you," I replied and it was true. I`d been busy and Eric had made his choice a long time ago. But from the shadow that glided over Eric`s face, he wasn`t much pleased with my answer. Maybe he`d expected me to jump into his arms now that I was a vampire?

"Yes, you`ve been busy sleeping around, I hear." Eric was always his meanest when he was hurt. I`d learned that a long time ago.

"I haven`t seen you for 16 years. Of course, I`ve slept with other people." I was angry at myself for trying to explain myself when I shouldn`t have to so I added, "Not that it`s any business of yours."

"Of course, it`s my business, Sookie. You are my wife. And you slept with my child. You`ll always be my business."

So we were heading straight for the ugly. "You divorced me and married someone else. And your child can make her own decisions." I was proud to say that I kept my calm now. I`d only slept with Pam once. Well, twice, really, since I wanted to be sure she wasn`t it for me. I really like Pam and at that point in life (or death), I wanted to be able to lean on her as more than a friend. But Pam lacked an important body part and that was that. No hard feelings.

Eric headed for my house and walked inside without any invitation. Since it was now a vampire residence, I didn`t have to invite him in for him to enter. So much for keeping trouble in the driveway.

When I walked inside after Eric, I found him sitting on my couch. It was a new couch but it was still strange to see him sitting where he`d sat under different circumstances. When I`d been human. And naïve.

"I did not come to argue with you, Sookie," he said. "You know why I married Freyda and you also know how you could have prevented it. But you chose Sam."

I looked at him for a moment and then I walked into the kitchen and grabbed myself a TruBlood. I put it in the microwave and heated it. Then I shook it, opened the bottle and poured it into a glass. I didn`t have much use for silverware or plates but I still liked to drink my blood from a glass. When I didn´t get it straight from someone`s vein, that is.

I walked back into the living room and sat down in my recliner and started sipping my blood. Gran would have slapped me silly for not offering Eric a drink, even if he`d just offended me terribly. And made me want to tear him apart in anger. My sipping my drink without offering him anything was much better than an open fight that I would lose.

"Why are you here, Eric?"

He raised his eyebrows and I realized he knew me well enough to see how I`d deliberately offended him by not offering him anything. Then he got up and started walking towards the door.

I followed him with my eyes but stayed quiet. If he wanted to answer my question he would. If not, too bad.

He opened the door and just as I thought he`d walk outside without saying anything, he turned and looked me in the eyes. I`d always loved those blue eyes of Eric`s.

"I left Freyda," he said.

He stepped outside and closed the door after him.

Eric always made great exits.

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**A/N:**

I hope this is a story you want to continue reading. Let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Dead among Friends and Neighbors - Chapter 2**

**A/N:**

WOW! I had never expected a reaction like this one. So many reviews, followers and favorites. It`s amazing and I want to thank every one of you!

I also want to thank **Suki59** for doing overtime and betaing both this story and **Sookie the Shieldmaiden**!

The characters and the universe belongs to **Charlaine Harris**.

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**Chapter 2**

"You had a visitor?"

It was Bill and he knew very well that I`d had a visitor. He probably also knew who it was. He was wearing a nice shirt and dress pants. After all, Bill and I were going out. Sort of.

"Yes, Eric came," I said as if Eric popped by every Wednesday.

"Ah." Bill nodded but left his face without any telltale expressions. "I wondered when he would come to Bon Temps."

He sat down in the exact same spot Eric had been sitting and I went to sit in my chair.

"Why would he come to Bon Temps? Wait, did you know he`d left Freyda? And what does that even mean? I thought he`d signed a 200 year contract?"

Bill shrugged. "Apparently Eric found a loop hole. When you got attacked by a vampire his contract with Freyda was null and void since he`d specified that you would be left alone."

I closed my eyes, trying to absorb what Bill had said. "So when I was attacked ten years ago, Eric could have left Freyda?"

"That`s what I`ve heard."

"But I wasn`t attacked by Freyda`s people. As far as I know, she had nothing to do with it."

"The contract only stated that you would not be attacked by vampires. It did not mention any particular vampires." Bill crossed his legs and leaned back.

"So if you or Pam had attacked me, then Eric could have left Freyda?"

"You know I would never attack you, Sookie. I respected the fact that you were human." Bill enjoyed sticking one to Eric, even after all this time Eric had left me, but he did have a ghost of a smile on his lips and I chose to interpret it as his ironic smile. After all, Bill did attack me more than once. "But I always thought this was why Felipe sent Horst to your house. It would have been an easy way for him to regain a strong sheriff."

I nodded. The event with Horst was so long ago I`d almost forgotten about it. Especially since Horst had been shipped back to Nevada the next night and I`d never seen him again.

And for a short moment I wondered if Felipe had wanted Eric to stay. If he did, surely he would have thought of a better plan than to send one of his men to hurt me just before Eric left?

I got up and looked at the clock. "We should leave if we don`t want to be too late," I said. "Pamtasia is waiting."

Pamtasia was what Bill and I called Fangtasia when Pam wasn`t around. And sometimes when she was. She`d changed Fangtasia enough to earn our teasing. It was now a large "historical entertainment center" where people could meet and greet vampires. It was all connected to Fanged History—the company where you could book vampires to give speeches about the various historical events they`d experienced first hand—which I had started up with Quinn, and —the website where the historically interested could ask questions and have vampires answer them—which Bill and I were working on.

Bill laughed that quiet laugh of his. "Yes, and you`d better make sure your autograph hand is in shape."

I`d had some slight fame because of my turning and the trial against Hot Rain. And now I was used as a poster girl for "the vampire next door." It wasn`t a role I was comfortable in but it allowed me to stay in Bon Temps and stay friends with people there, so I paid the price. Right now the price was going to Fangtasia and having people see Sookie Stackhouse.

"I do think most of the girls are waiting for tales from the Civil War, Bill. And to sigh because you`re not wearing a uniform."

I knew why Bill refused to put on the Confederate uniform but his fans didn`t. Bill didn`t mind talking about his human days but he had too much dignity to dress up. Pam had tried to convince him—she knew it would earn her a buck if he`d been willing to demonstrate his human life and not just talk about it—but Bill had told her he would wear the uniform as soon as she would wear the whole corset and hoops from when she was human, and Pam had stopped putting pressure on him. She could have forced him if she`d wanted to but Pam was of the whole "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" school of vampires. She was rare that way.

I set my alarm, locked my doors and got into Bill`s car (which wasn`t electric—Bill liked things done the old way). At the back of my mind I knew that Eric might be at Fangtasia—Pam was Eric`s child, after all. But I tried not to think about it.

I had truly loved Eric at one point but not enough to want to be his mistress (not that I was sure how he would ever be able to work out that without alienating his new wife). And Eric had not loved me enough to say no to the career opportunity Queen Freyda had offered. Because he could have turned her down. I`d checked.

And now Eric was back.

I`d figured I would meet Eric at some point since I was now a vampire. It`s a small world and vampires tend to meet on various occasions. But I`d somehow let myself believe that it wouldn`t be on this side of the 200 years he was supposed to be married to Freyda and that had been fine with me. 200 years was probably what I needed to stop being angry with him.

And hurt.

If I`d been human, I would have taken a deep breath. Bill gave me a pointed look when I took that breath anyway. Apparently, I hadn`t been a vampire long enough to shed old habits.

"You`re a different person than when Eric saw you last, Sookie," Bill said and he was right. I`d started changing even when Eric had known me but becoming a vampire and earning my right to be myself had been one battle after the other—and I`d won each and every one of them. Felipe probably found me as annoying as a crushed cracker between the sheets but I did earn him a lot of money and offered him services none of his other vampires could, so he tolerated what he called my "longing for humanity." For now, at least.

And, after all, it was my lingering humanity that had helped earning him all that money. I was good at thinking outside the box and at understanding humans. Both were important in the building of Felipe`s financial empire.

"I just wish he hadn`t come to Louisiana," I said. "And it must be weird for Pam. She has his job and he`s her maker. How is that going to work? Is he going to tell her how to do her job?"

"Eric is not that kind of a maker. But he does seem to be out of a job, which must be strange after having been a sheriff and now a queen`s consort." Bill looked at the road but I could feel the wheels of his brain turning, just as mine were. A new strong vampire in the area would rock our cozy little boat—a boat that had been floating very nicely for years now.

Bill drove around to the back of Fangtasia. It was a lot larger than when Eric had owned the place but Pam had made sure there was a special parking area for vampires working for her. She didn`t want overeager fans jumping us and ending up with a surprise bite on their necks. I think she was mainly concerned about her freshest vampire—me—because it wasn`t always easy to keep one`s fangs to oneself. Especially not in my early years. But biting someone without permission would not be good for my image as Miss Innocent; I knew that.

The back door swung open when we got closer, courtesy of the bouncer and the handy camera Pam had installed. We walked in and went straight to Pam`s office. I wanted to see my friend but I also wanted to tell her about Eric`s visit. As a sheriff—and as Eric`s child—she needed to know.

I knocked and opened the door when I heard Pam call "enter." Pam was behind her desk but she wasn`t alone in the office.

On her couch, stretching out those long legs of his in front of him, was Eric. He smiled at me, fangs and all.

"Good evening, lover."

I looked around and caught Pam rolling her eyes and heard Bill`s fangs pop down. My own reaction? I laughed.

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**A/N:**

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will be up soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Dead among Friends and Neighbors – chapter 3**

**A/N:**

I want to thank everyone for your reviews and comments. I`m so thrilled with the response this story is getting.

I also wanted to clear up something a few of you have asked me about: No, Sookie is not dating Bill romantically in this story. I really couldn`t see her doing that. I`m keeping him as her friend because I`m trying—to the best of my ability—to stay true to the books and Bill was Sookie`s friend when we left Bon Temps in the last book.

I want to thank **Suki59** for being such a great beta. And I want to thank everyone at the Random-Fandom for clearing up a few canon questions I had. There`ll probably be more!

**Charlaine Harris** owns the characters and the universe this story takes place in.

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**Chapter 3**

Apparently vampires weren`t supposed to laugh for no good reason—and the reason to laugh was usually to scare people. I doubt that my laughter scared anyone in the room, unless you call 'wondering whether Sookie had blown her last fuse,' scared.

They stared at me and I finally stopped laughing. It wasn`t a laughing matter to see Eric again.

"Are you finished?" Pam asked in that sarcastic voice of hers.

"I believe so," I said and then I flashed her one of those Sookie-smiles I hardly used anymore.

"Eric is not married anymore," she said.

"Yes, he came by to tell me."

"He is also not the sheriff anymore."

I nodded and waited for her to continue. She looked at Eric and I could imagine something strange going on between them. She was his sheriff, at least if he decided to move back, and he was her maker. Who was the boss of whom?

"Vikings are quite popular, aren`t they, Sookie?" she asked after some silent communication with the modern Viking on her couch.

"Depends on whether you mean among the general population or with me specifically."

Pam flashed me a smile. "I meant with the general population. I`m sure Eric is interested in both**."**

**"**Vikings have been popular for some time now. There have been quite a few movies and television shows featuring Vikings and I believe they are releasing 'Thor – the final battle with Loki' in a month or so. It`s the 15th in the series of Thor movies." I thought for a moment. "We do have a couple of Vikings on and they get quite a few questions. Especially the shieldmaiden. She has a huge fanbase."

We had a female Viking warrior connected to the network of Vikings giving speeches and answering questions and she`d received quite the following, among both men and women.

"Could you use another one?" Pam asked.

I heard Bill move behind me but when I turned to look at him his face was blank. But since was just as much his project as mine, if not more his since he`d done all the programming, I lifted my eyebrow to prompt a reaction out of him.

He shrugged and I knew I was on my own.

"Do you know what it would mean, Eric?" I asked. "No more anonymity. People—humans—will be watching you. Most of them will be some variation of the fangbangers you`re used to from Fangtasia but some will look at your moral compass."

"What does that mean, 'moral compass'?" he asked.

"It means that you can`t treat people like blood bags or sex objects," I said and wasn`t sure if his lifted brow was because he objected to what I`d said or because he wasn`t expecting me to speak like that. "You also can`t start any vampire wars." I was quiet for a moment, thinking about what had happened to myself, then added. "You can defend someone innocent, though. Humans like that."

"Would that include myself?" he asked in a dry voice.

"Yes, Eric." My voice was even dryer. It was the Nevada desert. "You can defend yourself if you`re attacked."

"And you agree to this?" Eric was asking Bill who looked uncomfortable for a few moments and then his face went blank again.

"It`s a good PR move." Bill said. "People have started to think vampires are peaceful and it gives us elbow room to do business. Some people are even defending us, as you know." Bill added the last sentence as if an afterthought. Eric had, after all, only been to Oklahoma, not the moon.

"I know." Eric pulled his legs closer and sat up straight. "And it is a smart move. To be able to do business with humans was one of the reasons we came out of the coffin and you two seem to have found a nice little business venture." He got up and stretched his magnificent body in front of Pam, Bill and me. I suspected it was mainly for me. Then he lowered his arms and smiled. "I`ll find a Viking sword somewhere and join you."

"Join us, how?" Bill asked and I shared the suspicion his voice was laced with.

"I`ll be your third partner."

I could hear Bill opening his mouth to argue. Or maybe to show his fangs. But I knew we`d lost when I saw Pam`s face. Eric joining solved a problem for her. No one wanted an unemployed, grumpy vampire-daddy hanging around, and now Eric had a job.

"Excellent!" she said and Bill`s mouth snapped closed so quickly I was almost worried he`d broken a fang.

"Do you still have that hole in the bottom of your closet, Sookie?" Eric asked.

"Yes, and I`m using it myself." I wasn`t about to tell Eric how I`d dug out a nice little room under my house because I knew what he was getting at.

"I`m sure it can fit two," he said.

"You can stay at my place, Eric," Bill said. If vampires sighed I`m sure he would have done that now.

Eric looked at me and I knew he`d gotten exactly what he wanted. He`d weaseled himself into my life again and I knew I had to be careful.

Luckily I wasn`t as young and naïve as I`d been the last time around. And I wasn`t human anymore.

Eric might be able to become a part of my business and he might move in with Bill, just across the cemetery from my house. But my heart was guarded and he wasn`t going to get close to my body. I`d learned my lesson.

"Now that Eric has a job and a place to live, maybe we could get to work?" I said. I got up and left Pam, Bill and Eric and Pam`s office. I had humans to charm and a business to run.

Most vampires working at Fangtasia tonight had been turned after The Great Revelation. Pam had never said so but I`d always assumed it was the loss of her girlfriend Miriam that made her accept requests from vampires who wanted to turn sick lovers, friends and relatives—if said lover, friend or relative wanted to become a vampire.

She wouldn`t be Pam, of course, if she didn`t charge a high price for her stamp of approval for new vamps and she also demanded a higher work load from the new vampires than the older ones.

This was a good business move because all the newly turned vampires pulled in more fangbangers—the politically correct term now was "fanglovers"—who dreamed of being turned and wanted to ask the "lucky ones" how they`d managed to talk a vampire into turning them. The fanglovers spent a lot of money at Fangtasia and the money not spent on drinks and merchandice was being used on fangy dentures (Pam got percentages from the dentists) and skin bleaches (Pam sold the creams).

When I entered the bar, I quickly scanned the crowd. A couple of years ago Hunter had been a regular and, though he`d turned a new page, I was still afraid he would lapse back into his old ways. He`d been a troubled kid and I knew he was now a responsible adult—I would not have hired him as my dayman if he hadn`t been—but I still seemed to be holding my breath.

I also kept an eye out for Arlene`s kids (and even Tara`s and Jason`s, though they were too young to get in) and hoped to never see them at Fangtasia. Being a vampire who cared about her community had its price. I was only glad that Quinn`s children lived far away from Shreveport.

Luckily none of Bon Temps` children were at Fangtasia tonight. Not that Fangtasia was a dangerous place to be; Pam kept all the vampires on a short leash. But most of the humans were there to have sex with vampires or to give blood to vampires—or to become a vampire. I just didn´t want anyone I´d known since they were little to come here and be a part of that. If that made me a hypocrite, so be it.

I went to the bar and was immediately offered a blood by a nice-looking young man who unfortunately broadcasted what he thought of my "rack" rather loudly. I turned off my telepathy—being able to turn my telepathy on and off was my gift after I´d become a vampire—flashed him a fang and left him. I heard how his pulse sped, probably both from fear and excitement, but the days when I would react to a smile and a fast beating heart were over. It had been a long time since I`d had casual sex. Well, sex in any capacity.

I almost turned back and kissed the guy, though, when I noticed Eric looking at me from the other side of the dance-floor. Maybe that would have wiped the smirk off his face?

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**A/N:**

A new chapter will be up soon!


	4. Chapter 4

**Dead around Friends and Neighbors - Chapter 4**

**A/N: **

Thank you so much for all your reviews and comments. They mean a lot to me and I`m sorry I haven`t been able to reply to all your questions. I`m currently in Brussels, Belgium, visiting the European Parliament and having pretty busy days.

This is also why this chapter is very short. But I`ll be going home soon and the next chapter is just around the corner.

Hugs and kisses to **Suki59** for being such a great beta!

The characters and the universe belong to **Charlaine Harris.**

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**Chapter 4**

"Where`s Bill?" I asked Pam when my shift was over. Bill was my ride home but both he and his car were gone.

"He left," Pam said. "Eric told him to."

"Eric is not Bill`s sheriff anymore."

"No, and this is why you need to be careful, Sookie. Eric has a plan and you seem to be a part of it."

I thought it over and nodded. "You should be careful too, Pam. He`s your master and you`re his sheriff. How are you going to work that out?"

She shrugged and I could see it bothered her. Then she smiled. "At least he`s not as unreasonable as Appius was. I don`t expect to have to clean up dead bodies after him."

I laughed. With vampires, a bad situation could always be worse. Eric was bad news but, by far, not as bad as his maker had been. He might tip a few balances here and there but he wouldn`t go on a killing spree. With vampires, that was a blessing one should count.

"You`re right. But that brings me to my lack of transport. Can I use your guest room?" I was one of those vampires who couldn`t fly—to my annoyance—and it would have taken me a lot of effort and too much time to run all the way home.

I had other important abilities. What I`d once considered my disability was now one of my assets. I could still hear what humans thought but I was better at tuning them in and out. And I could hear weres and shifters more clearly now. Which was a good thing if you did business with the furred community and wanted to make sure you weren`t cheated but a bad thing if your boyfriend was a shifter.

Sam and I had been dating on-and-off when I´d been turned. We`d been on a break when Hot Rain had assaulted me but Sam had been a good friend and had tried to help me with my transition into my new life as a vampire. He`d even offered me some of his blood when I`d been in a frenzy and the bottled blood hadn`t been enough.

But my hearing everything in his mind—this was before I`d learned to control my ability—combined with Sam`s deep wish to start a family had brought our relationship to a final end. He was still a close friend and I still owned part of Merlotte`s. And part of Sam`s Redneck Roadhouse, which we`d taken over together when Victor had turned into dust. Sam and I were great business partners and I loved his wife, Sue, and his two kids.

Pam had once told me that I was an extraordinary person who could manage to own businesses with no less than three of my former lovers—and not quarrel with any of them. Actually, she`d said it was amazing that I hadn`t killed any of them and then she`d asked me when I was going to start a business with her. After all, we`d been lovers too.

Now I`d been shanghaied into sharing one of my businesses with yet another former lover and I wasn`t sure it would work out as well as with Bill, Quinn or Sam. There was too much anger between Eric and me. And I knew Eric always worked on more than one level. If he wanted to step into my business, move in with Bill and worm his way into my life, it wasn`t just because he wanted to be close to yours truly. I was sure of that.

I needed to find out why Eric had left Freyda. And why he was in Louisiana.

"Are you ready to leave?" Eric was suddenly behind me, whispering into my ear, and I knew I had to work on my vampire skills. A vampire who let another vampire sneak up on her wouldn`t last long.

"I`m staying at Pam`s place," I said.

"Why?" he asked and it was a good question. I had a busy night the next night and a vampire had so many fewer waking hours than what I`d had as a human.

I said my goodbyes to Pam and Eric and I left Fangtasia through the back door. Eric`s Tesla was parked close to the building and soon both Eric and I were inside that electirc sports car of his.

We rode in silence—even the car was very quiet—and it wasn`t until we reached the outskirts of Bon Temps that I spoke.

"Why are you here, Eric?" I asked. I had to know.

"Because you`re here, lover," was his simple answer.

"I`ve been here all along. You were the one who left." It was 16 years ago he`d left and I managed to not sound bitter. I wasn`t bitter. It was water under the bridge, really. At least that was what I had thought until Eric turned up again.

"And now I`ve come back."

I didn`t turn to look at him but I knew he was smiling.

"Why did you come back, Eric? Really?" I wasn`t sure why I asked him that question again because I knew he wasn`t going to give me a straight answer. Eric had always told me the truth—or at least after we`d started dating—but he`d rarely told me the whole truth.

As I guessed, he didn`t give me the whole truth. He stayed silent.

He turned his car up Hummingbird Road and parked outside my house. When he got out of his car, I held up my hand to stop him.

"You`re staying at Bills`s," I said. "Not at my place."

He smiled as if he`d expected me to say that. "I`m just parking my car here."

"Why?" I asked. But before I could get an answer, Eric had run across the cemetery to Bill`s house.

I hated Eric`s exits.

* * *

**A/N:  
**I`m sorry this chapter was extra short but that was how it turned out. A new chapter will be up shortly!

And I raise my glass of Belgian beer to all the Belgian readers. Brussels is a very beautiful city. I would have loved the city even if it had been ugly. How can you not love a city with great beer and Belgian waffles? J


	5. Chapter 5

**Dead among Friends and Neighbors - Chapter 5**

**A/N:**

Thank you again for all your comments, thoughts and questions! I know I`ve kept you in the dark about why Eric is back and I`ll keep you there a few chapters more, unfortunately. There`s more to Eric`s back story and why he left Freyda (and why he didn`t do it ten years ago). Things are not always what they seem.

I`m very grateful to **Sukie59** for betaing this story. I do wish she could have tasted some of the Belgian waffles, beer or chocolate I had last week in Brussels.

I don`t own these characters or the universe. **Charlaine Harris** does.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

When I opened my front door after Eric had left for Bill`s house, I noticed my alarm was switched off and my fangs popped down until I took a deep breath and smelled the reason. Hunter was in at my house.

Hunter stayed with me from time to time. When all the voices in his head became too loud and he wanted a break from the human minds he couldn`t avoid listening to, he would come to my house and spend the night. Or the week, if it was bad.

I`d always enjoyed Hunter`s company and after I`d learned to control my bloodlust, I`d welcomed him into my house. Especially when I realized that the alternative might me his following in his mother`s footsteps. If Hunter wanted to be with vampires, better me than some king or queen who`d only exploit him.

No one knew about Hunter`s telepathy and I was doing my best to keep it that way. Just like no one knew I was still a telepath after my turning. Pam probably suspected because I`d used my telepathy to help her out quite often. But since I`d never actually said that my telepathy was what got her the good deals or the smart tips, and she`d never asked, she officially didn`t know. Have I mentioned that Pam was a good friend?

Felipe had been curious about my telepathy but had accepted that I could only pick up vague emotions now. I think he was relieved too. Now I was just an ordinary vampire—not some secret weapon that could be used against him at some point.

I carefully opened the door to my upstairs guest room and there was Hunter, sprawled on the bed. I smiled and went to pull the sheets up to cover him better. I would wake up Hunter just before I went to die for the day but right now would let him sleep while I worked.

I grabbed myself a blood and sat down in front of my computer. Since I was a newly-turned vampire, I didn`t have anyone asking me what the world was like when I was human but I knew I`d probably get a few questions about my turning. So many people wondered if there was any pain involved and I often got the "was it the ultimate orgasm?" question.

That question always annoyed me, but then people didn´t realize how scary it was to be turned against your will by a person who wanted to use you in a plot to get your former lover. Because that had been Hot Rain`s plan: to use me against Eric. As my maker, Hot Rain could have ordered me to do anything—including killing the Viking currently lodging next door.

It was a good plan and one had to give him credit for it. A vampire plan, really. But Pam had stopped him and I was now without a maker.

My computer was on and I signed in. I made a quick search in the log books to make sure everyone was doing what they were paid to be doing and that no one was breaking any codes of conduct. No cursing, no threats and absolutely no asking for dates. was a family-friendly website. A place where parents could let their kids surf without worrying about them being vamp bait.

I was just about to enter my personal profile—the place where people asked me questions—when the chat screen popped up and I was staring at Eric`s face. He was too close to the camera but then Eric had never been especially tech-savvy.

"Sookie?" he asked.

"Yes?" It`d been half an hour since I`d left his car and I couldn´t imagine what he`d have to say to me now.

He smiled. "I`m just trying this out."

And then he disappeared from my screen. I stared at it for a few moments and then I shrugged and went back to business.

When I`d answered the questions people had asked me I recorded a message to Quinn. He needed to know about Eric too. He might be able to use Eric somehow in Fanged History. Quinn might also need a warning. Not that I thought Eric would go after Quinn now—or try to get him banned from the area—but one never knew with Eric.

Then I went to Hunter`s room again and knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" he said, his voice groggy and tired.

"I just wanted to say hi." I opened the door, hoping he was decent now that he`d been warned.

"Hi, Cuz." He grinned because he knew I liked the title. Not many vampires were called "cuz" by a human.

"Hi, Cuzzie," I said. "How are you doing?"

"Not bad." He was still smiling but I knew his face well enough to open my telepathy and check what he was thinking. Unfortunately he knew me well enough to close his mind behind a church hymn. It was about God and sparrows and was incredibly annoying. Hunter couldn`t carry a tune even in his head.

I couldn`t decide whether to be proud of him for using the tricks I`d taught him or be worried because he felt he needed to hide things from me. But then I decided he should be allowed his privacy and to choose when to confide in me and when not to so I closed down my telepathy again.

Hunter was an adult and could make his own choices without his worried cousin intervening.

"It`s nice to have you here, Hunter, and you know you`re welcome anytime."

"But?" he prompted.

"No buts," I said even if I`d had a big but in the past. I`d been worried about Hunter being involved with vampires or even being used against me by a vampire trying to make me do his bidding. Hunter was the main reason I`d decided to pretend my telepathy was gone.

The more ordinary I was, the less risk for Hunter to be used as a hostage. I still remembered Heidi with her special tracking abilities. Her son was dead now and I couldn`t help thinking that was for the best. A mother should never outlive her children but at least he wasn`t used against her anymore.

I`d worked hard to find that balance between being valuable enough to Felipe for him to let me live my life and not so valuable that he`d want me to come live in Las Vegas. I`d also worked hard at being visible both in my local community and farther out. I couldn`t just disappear without people noticing and caring.

"That`s good because I like it here," he said and stretched. "It`s quiet. Only you and Bill in the neighborhood and you both have silent brains."

"Speaking of neighborhood. Bill has a visitor who might pop by my house as well." I sat down in the chair next to Hunter`s bed. "Do you remember me telling you about Eric?"

"The Viking?" he asked and I nodded. "Yeah, I think he came by your house once when I was asleep. When I was a kid, I mean."

I remembered that night Hunter had been sleeping over and Eric had visited. "Well, he`s staying with Bill at the moment. He used to be my boyfriend a long time ago and he`ll probably be curious about you if you`re here. I think it`s better if he doesn`t know how we`re related to one another, so I`ll just introduce you as my dayman, okay?"

"Sure, Sookie."

"And he`s kind of smart so you`ll have to be extra careful about your telepathy. I don`t want him to know about that."

I didn´t tell Hunter I suspected Eric had something planned, that I didn´t believe for one minute Eric was in Bon Temps just to visit me, but Hunter knew that when I told him to be careful, I meant it. He`d learned it the hard way, by not listening. He still had the scars to prove it and they would have been more severe if he hadn`t had some of my blood.

Hunter smiled a reassuring smile and I knew he`d be cautious with Eric.

"Is there anything you want me to do tomorrow?" he asked. He was my dayman, after all.

"If you`re staying here anyway, I would love it if you would weed the flower beds."

"Sure, Sookie." He yawned and I felt the day close in on me. I got up and started walking towards the door.

"Sleep tight, Hunter. See you tonight."

I opened the closet in my room and crawled into the new and improved "hidey-hole" I`d made in the bottom. There would have been plenty of room for Eric here but he didn`t know that.

My last thoughts before I died for the day concerned Eric. Why was he here? What was he up to?

-§§-

I woke to music pouring through the speakers Hunter had wired all over the house. He`d started loving music in his early teens—probably because it was a way of shutting out all the voices he heard. For a long period one never saw Hunter without headphones which had annoyed Remy to no end. He`d threatened Hunter with a haircut around the headphones one time he didn`t take them off fast enough at the barber shop.

When he`d started staying with me he`d asked if he could install a music system with speakers that could be turned off and on everywhere in the house. I`d agreed to it because at that time of his life, I`d say yes to anything he asked of me just because he was a troubled kid and I wanted to cut him a break now and then.

The song stopped but then it started all over again and I recognized Elton John`s "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word." I cursed Hunter`s ridiculous love for music from the 1970s and 80s—not to mention how he always put songs on repeat—and got up.

I took a shower and found myself singing to the lyrics. I`d heard the song often enough to know them, courtesy of Hunter. I can`t sing, but like most people, I still enjoy how bathroom tiles enhance sounds—even my terrible singing.

The song started up again just as I got out of the shower. Darn Hunter and his obsessions. He`d probably broken up with a girlfriend and was now wallowing in Elton John-enhanced self-pity.

I dried myself and wrapped my hair in a towel. My bathrobe was where I`d left it so I put it on and opened the door to my bedroom.

"Hunter!" I shouted, while walking towards the door leading out of my bedroom.

I suddenly noticed a person lying on my bed, his arms behind his head and his long legs stretched out.

"Hello, Sookie," Eric said.

* * *

**A/N:**

I love how some of you are angry with Eric and some of you are not. I do wonder what you think of his behavior now :-)

Just remember, everything is for a reason.


	6. Chapter 6

**Dead among Friends and Neighbors – Chapter 6**

**A/N:**

I just love how different views you have on Eric and I want to thank you for all the reviews and comments this story is getting.

I`m very grateful to **Suki59** for betaing this chapter. She`s been doing an amazing job, cleaning out my mistakes!

**Charlaine Harris** owns the Southern Vampire Mysteries universe. I`m just trying to bring Eric and Sookie back together again (and I hope they`re not like Humpty Dumpty).

* * *

**Chapter 6**

My fangs plopped down at the sight of Eric and I went into defense mode. What was he doing here? Why was he intruding?

And what was it with that that song?

I decided to address the last question first and walked into the living room to tell Hunter to knock it off with the Elton John trip he was on but to my surprise, Hunter wasn`t there. He wasn`t in his room either or in the kitchen.

"I think your guest left," Eric said. He was standing right behind me. I turned around and added some distance between us.

"He`s my dayman," I told him. "And he stays here from time to time."

Eric`s eyebrows went up. "Really?" he asked. "He smells rather good."

"That may be but he is not for you or anyone else to eat."

"So he`s not your special dinner?" What Eric was really asking was if Hunter was my lover. I knew that.

I wanted to tell Eric it was none of his business but that might bring trouble to Hunter`s doorstep. Instead I looked Eric in the eyes and said: "My dayman is no one`s dinner, Eric." I hoped he understood I was serious about it.

Eric studied my face but I broke his stare by walking over to the fancy new music system that had replaced my old stereo. I turned off Elton John just as he was singing "Why can`t we talk it over?" Instead I programmed it to play Gloria Gaynor`s "I Will Survive" and joined in when she sang, "I should have changed that stupid lock, I should have made you leave your keys," though I`d changed my locks several times over since Eric had been here last. And I´d never given him any keys.

Trying not to feel too childish about my choice in music, I walked into my kitchen and this time I warmed two bottles of blood. I might as well be hospitable since Eric seemed to be invading my space on a regular basis. When both bottles of blood were warm, I poured them into glasses.

Eric was sitting on my couch when I came back into the living room. I handed him a glass of blood and sat down in my recliner. The music had stopped.

"What can I do for you, Eric?" I asked.

He was quiet for a while. Then he looked at me. "We were good together, Sookie," he said.

"It`s been years, Eric."

"When you`re my age, 16 years is a blink of the eye." His smile seemed sincere.

"I suppose it is. But I`m not your age." 16 years was a large part of my life.

Eric drank some of his blood. Then, before I managed to do anything to defend myself, he`d put down his glass and was on his knees in front of me, leaning over my body.

"Can I trust you, Sookie?" he asked.

"Why?"

His fingers pushed a lock of hair behind my ear and I sat completely still while he did it, knowing that he could kill me if he decided I wasn`t trustworthy.

"I have Pam and Karin but I`m not sure it`s enough." His finger danced down my cheek. "But if you`re not with me, you`re against me."

"What`s going to happen, Eric? Are we at war?"

Eric smiled and I realized I`d said "we." But before I got an answer—if I would have received one—the front door opened and Eric sat on the couch again, his glass in his hand.

I looked at Hunter who stopped in his tracks when he saw I had a visitor. Then he started walking towards his bedroom, not looking at Eric.

"This is your dayman?" Eric asked.

"Yes." I tried to be brief, not wanting to draw attention to Hunter.

"What`s your name?" Eric asked Hunter.

"My name is Hunter," Hunter said without looking directly at Eric.

And that was when I realized Eric knew who Hunter was. It could have been Hunter`s smell or some facial feature that gave him away. But Eric knew about Hunter before Hunter introduced himself. The introduction was only a confirmation.

"You can leave us, Hunter," I told my cousin in a neutral tone, grabbing at that little thin straw that I might be wrong. That Eric hadn`t recognized Hunter.

When Hunter had left the room Eric turned towards me and took a sip of his blood.

"What a nice looking young man." Eric`s tone of voice was low but I heard him. I also heard what he didn`t say. If Eric wasn`t sure I was on his team, he`d just found the leverage he needed.

Hunter.

"Tell me why you asked me if I was with you? What`s happening?" I asked.

Eric looked at his watch. "Get dressed. Felipe de Castro will be here in about an hour." He stood up. "And you should ask your dayman to leave while Felipe is here. It would be … better."

"Are we in trouble, Eric?" Felipe de Castro had visited my house on several occasions and every time I`d wondered if I would be alive when he left. Now even more than before.

"I hope not. I have tried to keep you safe, Sookie. And myself, of course," he added.

I nodded because deep down I knew Eric would have tried to keep me safe if it wasn`t at the risk of his own life. He`d saved me a couple of times back when I was human. Of course, he`d put me in danger just as often too so it wasn`t like Eric had been my own personal wingless guardian angel.

Maybe it was the sudden—and unknown, thanks to Eric—danger that had me stifling a giggle at the thought of Eric as an angel. He had the long blond hair and he could fly so it really wasn`t that far off. Not looks-wise, at least, because with that hair and a face that never aged, he did resemble an angel. But Eric had more on his conscience than the average angel, I assumed.

He raised his eyebrow at me as if to ask me what had me almost giggling. And I couldn`t help myself.

"You could be a fallen angel," I told him.

"And why would you say I`m "fallen"?" he asked with a smirk.

"That you`re not exactly innocent."

He nodded. "But I used to be?"

"A long time ago, maybe?" I tried to make it into a question. I knew Eric had been human before Christianity came to his part of the world. Innocence may have been embodied by something else back then. And what Appius had made Eric do was far from innocent. Eric`s master was a bloodthirsty vampire.

"A long time ago."

I got up to go tell Hunter to go to his own apartment. I hated doing this to Hunter because there was obviously a reason for his coming to my place. But I didn`t want to mix Hunter up in vampire business. It was bad enough that he was my dayman and he only had that position so I could keep an eye on him. Hunter wouldn`t stand a chance in a vampire war. If that was what Eric was bringing to my doorstep.

I knocked on Hunter`s door and entered. "I need you to leave, Hunter. Somethings`s going to happen and I don`t want you in the middle of it."

Hunter nodded and without asking for explanations he walked out of his room. I followed him to the porch where I gave him a quick hug, careful not to inhale the scent of him when he was close. I was still a young vampire and though I had more control than most young vampires, there was no point in tempting fate. Hunter smelled too good.

"I`ll call you as soon as I can, Hunter." And with that he got into his car and drove off.

I was both happy and sad to see him go. Happy that I was keeping him safe. Sad that I was throwing him out when he clearly needed to stay. Tomorrow—assuming I was around and not a pile of dust—I would have to have a talk with him. Find out what was wrong. I suddenly regretted that I hadn`t pressed harder to read his mind.

Back in the living room I noticed Eric still sat on my couch.

"What about Bill?" I asked. I wanted to know if Bill was a part of whatever was going to happen at my house later on.

"For now it`s just you and me, Sookie. You and me and Felipe de Castro."

"And Pam and Karin?" I asked.

"I`d rather not get them involved yet."

I wasn`t sure how I felt about being Eric`s one-woman army. "You do know that young vampires aren`t very good fighters, Eric?"

Eric`s blue eyes seemed to light up. "You were an outstanding fighter even as a human, Sookie."

"So tell me what we`re up against." I hated being left in the dark. I wanted to be prepared.

But before I could get an answer, Eric`s phone rang. He pushed the little earpiece into his ear and hit the button on the phone.

"This is Eric," Eric said.

My vampire hearing was good enough to hear what was said at the other end of the conversation. I had no problems recognizing Felipe`s voice.

"May I speak to Meez Stackhouse, please?" he asked and I wondered how he knew Eric was at my house.

Eric held out the phone to me but kept the earpiece in his ear.

"This is Sookie," I said into the phone.

"Ah, the lovely Sookie." Felipe de Castro sounded much more delighted than he`d been the last couple of times I´d done business with him. Not that my advice to him hadn`t pleased him. He`d made a lot of money because of it and he`d gained a new understanding of human nature. How people seemed to like rich people better than poor (which was to the advantage of vampires who`d had centuries to gather money) and how he needed to hire publicists who could show a more "human" side of the Nevada vampires, just like Pam was doing in Louisiana.

But he'd generally only been businesslike when dealing with me in the past, and I'd gotten used to that side of Felipe de Castro. The man who wanted to make it in the human world because that was where the money was.

"Felipe," I said. "How are you this evening?"

"I am fine, Sookie. I am very fine since I`m going to meet you again very soon. Will you put Eric on again, please?"

"Sure," I said and handed the phone back to Eric.

I figured it was time to get dressed. I didn´t want to go to war in my bathrobe. Not that I was sure a war was brewing. For all I knew, Felipe and Eric both collected baseball cards and tonight they were going to swap cards.

Unfortunately I didn`t have any baseball cards to trade with.

**A/N:**

I want to pimp the **I Write the Songs** **contest**. It`s such a great contest and this is the third year the contest is held. Earlier years there have been plenty of stories but, as far as I understand it, there aren´t as many this year. So everyone – find a song and write a story!

I`ll just sit here and wait for a story based on the song "Oklahoma!" :-D


	7. Chapter 7

**Dead among Friends and Neighbors - Chapter 7**

**A/N:**

_Thank you again for all your comments and reviews!_

_I also want to thank __**Suki59**__ for betaing this story. I can`t tell you how many commas she`s had to remove and how many she`s added. I seem to have a special knack for placing them entirely wrong. Poor Suki59!_

_This universe and all the characters belong to __**Charlaine Harris**__. I`m just trying to find a credible way to bring Eric and Sookie back together again. _

* * *

**Chapter 7**

I`d put on a pair of black pants and a short-sleeved blouse and when I walked back into my living room, Eric was no longer talking to Felipe de Castro.

He looked at me with a quick glance at my body and then at my face. He nodded as if I´d said something.

"Is Felipe de Castro coming here?" I asked.

"Yes, eventually. But he wants to meet you at Victor`s old place. The one where we …." He trailed off but I knew what he meant. The one where we`d met Victor and were threatened and ridiculed.

"I own that place now. With Sam." I added the last sentence as a statement of some kind. To let Eric know that Sam was a part of my life even if Sam`s part wasn`t romantic. When Eric left Louisiana with Freyda I`d found happiness of sorts with Sam. And Sam was a very nice man. Gentle and sweet. Unfortunately we`d never really fit. Just because you really like someone and you enjoy spending time with him, doesn`t mean you should start seeing him romantically. Sam had been my best friend, and even if he was a great lover, he`d never really moved out of the friend zone.

It hadn`t helped matters that I´d never really gotten over Eric. I was angry at Eric. I`d even hated him at times. But I`d also loved him deeply and it had been hard to wipe him out of my heart.

"Yes, Sam," Eric said and for once his voice showed emotion. Sam was definitely off Eric`s Christmas card list.

"Why does Felipe want us to meet there? And why only me?" I asked.

"I prefer not to guess why Felipe has picked that place. I`m sure he`s sending some kind of message in his choice of place." Eric was quiet for a long time. "And he wants to see only you because he can`t be seen with me. That wouldn`t be … wise."

Later, when I drove to Sam`s Redneck Roadhouse, I wondered why it wouldn`t be wise for Felipe to be seen with Eric. It had to be connected to Eric`s leaving Queen Freyda and the reasons behind this.

I desperately wanted to know if Felipe was going to punish Eric and if I was going to be in the line of fire. Eric had made it clear to Felipe that I was on my old boyfriend`s side and I wasn`t sure I liked that very much.

I would probably fight on Eric`s side if push came to shove. Especially since Eric`s side was also Pam`s and Karin`s side and Pam and Karin were my two best vampire friends. But it would be so much easier to be on Team Eric if I`d known who the enemy was and when and where the battle would be.

It was a hot humid night but since vampires didn`t sweat they didn`t notice temperatures that often. Out of old habit I took a deep breath when I got out of my car at Sam`s Redneck Roadhouse. Humid nights brought out the smell of nature, especially the flowers that I so rarely got to see anymore.

To my surprise, Sam opened the back door to Sam`s Redneck Roadhouse when I crossed the parking lot. He was usually at Merlotte`s since the Roadhouse had a manager.

I wasn`t happy to see Sam there since I didn`t know what Felipe wanted. I really didn`t want to get Sam caught up in vampire politics. Having seen Sam die once was more than enough for me. Of course, I knew that Sam would probably die before I would (unless Felipe had plans for my meeting the sun in the morning), but I hoped he would die an old man—not a young father with little kids and a wife who would miss him very much.

"Hi Sam." I waved at him and gave him a smile that wasn`t entirely honest.

"Sookie," he said. "You have a visitor."

"I know. I just had a phone call from him. I didn`t know you`d be here, though, or I would have warned you."

I walked past him and into the noise of the Roadhouse. We`d taken down the pictures of Elvis but hadn`t made many changes to the place. Never change a winning team and Sam`s Redneck Roadhouse was a popular place.

Felipe sat in the corner and to my surprise, he was all alone. I did a quick scan of the room and found at least four vampires glancing over where he was sitting which meant his security guys were in place. But he was not sitting with his usual retinue and I found that very strange.

"Hello Felipe," I said when I made it to his table. I didn`t sit down. You just don`t sit down next to your king even if he was the one who invited you to come.

"Sookie!" He sounded pleased to see me but that didn`t necessarily mean anything. Vampires were not compelled to show their accurate emotions. Actually, they weren`t compelled to show emotions at all.

Felipe gestured at the seat next to him. "Sit down!"

I did as he requested.

"It`s been a long time, Sookie." He sounded genuinely sorry, which again meant nothing.

"Yes, it has."

Felipe de Castro had been on Pam`s doorstep the moment I woke up after I`d been turned. He`d wanted me to come to Las Vegas as his personal vampire-telepath. And he could have ordered me there if it had been worth his while. I was one of his vampires to order about, after all.

But when I`d made him believe that my telepathy had disappeared (and passed all the tests he`d put me through), he left me pretty much alone. We`d mainly communicated via texting and skyping and the few times I`d seen him in Louisiana or Nevada he`d been short, bordering on impolite. Yes, it must have been such a disappointment to lose his personal telepath even if he`d lost use of me long before I`d been turned.

Then Felipe de Castro did something completely surprising. He bent close to me and kissed me. It was a polite kiss at first. Almost as if he were asking permission. I hadn`t agreed to anything—I was too stunned—when he pulled me closer and started kissing me in earnest.

When I finally came to my senses—Felipe was my king and his kissing me was about as unexpected as snow in the Louisiana summer—I started pushing at his chest. Yes, Felipe could make me kiss him. He could even make me have sex with him. That was his prerogative as my king just as my maker could have forced me into many years of depraved sex if it hadn`t been for the fact that Pam had fixed him up with a stake in his chest.

It was bizarre for Felipe to kiss me. He`d never shown any romantic interest in me or hinted that he wanted me.

But he sure seemed to want me now. He kissed my jaw and then my neck, working his way up to my ear, which he kissed.

And then he whispered, "Don`t fight me, Sookie. I`m not going to ravish you." Even when he whispered it was with a Spanish accent.

"You could have fooled me," I said a little louder than his whisper.

"Act like you really want me," Felipe continued as if I hadn`t said anything.

It was the word "act" that made me pause. Why would Felipe have me act like I wanted to kiss him or make out with him? What was happening here?

I tentatively kissed his cheek. Not the most romantic of kisses and definitely not the hottest, but Felipe seemed satisfied.

Loudly—at least to any vampire at the Roadhouse—he declared, "I can`t wait any longer, Sookie. Let`s go to your place. I need you now."

I stared at Felipe. And then I saw some reddish hair at the periphery of my eye. Sam had definitely heard Felipe too.

I got up and tried to not feel embarrassed when Felipe`s hand trailed over my back and settled on my butt as we were walking out the front door of the Roadhouse. And I tried not to look in Sam`s direction.

I was fairly sure Felipe wasn`t going to invite himself to do a horizontal tango with me but Sam had no way of knowing that.

I could always explain it to Sam later on but right now I felt awkward leaving the Roadhouse on Felipe`s arm. Not that it was any of Sam`s business but I still didn`t like the look he gave me.

I just hoped Eric would still be at my house when we got there.

* * *

**A/N:**

Do you like the song "Just a Gigolo"? You know, that David Lee Roth song with the sad lyrics and the playful beat? Well, I wrote a one-shot with that in mind and entered it in the I Write the Songs contest.

You should enter the contest as well! There are a thousand songs just waiting for you to write a story about.


	8. Chapter 8

**Dead among Friends and Neighbors – Chapter 8**

**A/N:**

Again, thank you for all your comments and thoughts.

I also want to thank **Suki59** for betaing this. You should go read all her stories. She`s just signed a book contract and you really have something to look forward to when her book comes out. It`s my favorite kind: vampire romance.

Charlaine Harris owns everything. One little (well, large) Viking vampire was all I wanted but she didn`t give me Eric for Christmas, unfortunately.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Felipe de Castro didn`t say much on our way back to my house. And he certainly didn`t try to kiss me in the car. I wasn`t sure why he`d done so at the Roadhouse but he was my king and I didn`t want to question him. Mainly because I wasn`t sure I`d like the answer very much.

I knew Felipe hadn`t suddenly fallen in love with me. To my knowledge, he was monogamous to the string of women he`d dated. They rarely lasted very long but he didn`t sleep around when he dated someone. At least not that I knew of.

Felipe and I had always been strictly business, which made Felipe an extraordinary king. I`d heard of several kings who insisted on "trying out" new vampires but Felipe hadn`t even "checked out the goods" with his eyes.

We drove up Hummingbird Road and I noticed Eric`s car was still in my driveway. I caught Felipe looking at it and then at me and I realized why the car was there in the first place. Eric might as well have taken a branding iron to my behind.

The owner of the car walked out my door just as Felipe and I exited my car. Eric walked over to Felipe and bent to his knee.

"Felipe," he said with his head bent.

"Eric," Felipe said back. A smile tugging his lips showed that Felipe was satisfied with Eric`s acknowledgement. But his shoulders were squared and the air simmered with frustration. Or possibly anger. What had Eric done? "Let us go inside Sookie`s lovely house," Felipe continued, and Eric got up.

As we entered my house I went straight for the kitchen, opting for the role of the hostess instead of witnessing Eric and Felipe acting like two male lions just before a battle of territory.

I put three bloods in my microwave and waited for them to heat. Then took them out, shook them and put them on a tray with three of my finest glasses. A tiny shiver of worry ran down my spine when I opened the door to the living room but Eric and Felipe were sitting on two different couches, staring quietly at each other.

I served the two vampires a bottle of blood and a glass each and then I took the third blood and glass and sat down in my recliner and poured myself a drink. I took a big gulp to hide how nervous I was.

Again I caught myself wishing Eric had told me why Felipe was there because I felt like I`d walked into a scene in a movie not knowing if it was a thriller or a bromance. I just hoped it wasn`t a kung-fu movie because my roundhouse kick was a bit rusty.

"It was time for me to leave Freyda," Eric said after a long silence.

"You served me better in Oklahoma," Felipe stated and my curiosity was peaked. Eric had served Felipe in Oklahoma? Eric had been Freyda`s second-in-command. Had he been Felipe`s spy too?

"Not any longer. I found that Freyda had built an army behind my back. For some time now she`s wanted Arkansas. And possibly Louisiana," Eric added.

"This was why you were in Oklahoma. You were to stop plans like that." Felipe looked relaxed but his more pronounced accent gave him away. Felipe was not a happy vampire.

"I`ve managed to stop her for 16 years but Arkansas and Louisiana were always her ultimate goals. She finds it galling that you are king of two states so far from your own. Oklahoma is, after all, neighbor to Arkansas." Eric looked from Felipe to me. "Arkansas and Louisiana were what motivated Freyda to contact my maker."

"16 years is far shorter than the 200 years you were supposed to work as my … representative in Oklahoma," Felipe said. He leaned forward and Eric did the same. I felt myself pulling my legs closer and leaning forward too. If war broke out I didn`t want to be left sitting in my recliner.

"The contract was broken, " Eric stated as if it explained everything.

Felipe turned towards me but kept talking to Eric. "Yes, the contract was broken ten years ago."

I wanted to shout, "What he said!" to Eric but he didn`t answer my unspoken question.

"When I found Freyda had built a secret army, I knew that your two states were at risk. And both my two children. " Eric said. "I did not want you to lose your land and I did not want my children harmed."

Felipe was still looking at me and Eric turned his head in the same direction, his eyebrow up and his lips narrow.

"Maybe Sookie was part of your reason for leaving Freyda." Felipe didn`t ask even if he`d started his sentence with "maybe."

Eric`s nostrils moved but apart from that I detected no emotions. I tried to keep myself in check too. I wanted to tell them I was sitting right here and didn`t appreciate how they were discussing me right in front of me. I suppose it was better than discussing me behind my back though.

"I assumed I would never see Sookie again when I left Louisiana," Eric said. "No humans live for 200 years."

"Yes, but then Hot Rain changed everything and you have a second chance." Felipe smiled at Eric but it was no pleasant smile.

Eric shrugged and I kept as quiet as possible even if I was the topic of this discussion. There were layers upon layers in what Eric and Felipe said to one another and I did not want to get stuck in one of them because of my hurt feelings. My 16-year-old hurt feelings.

"Sookie did not want to be turned," Eric said, as if that had any bearing on what he and Felipe were discussing. Or maybe it did and I just didn`t understand the depths of the conversation.

But he was right and if my heart had still had blood pumping through it, I`m sure it would have been beating just a little bit harder now. It was silly perhaps, but his acknowledging that I`d never wanted to become a vampire warmed my heart. At least figuratively.

"I believe she is still trying to come to terms with it," Felipe said.

"What he means is that I`m no longer planning on getting a suntan," I said dryly to Eric.

"And now you`ve cost me my best man in Oklahoma, Sookie." Felipe didn`t sound angry but that didn`t mean much. I`d seen him kill with a smile on his lips and I let my tongue glide over my teeth as a nervous reaction to what he`d said. It was bad if Felipe blamed me for losing a good spy.

"I didn`t even know Eric could get out of that contract. Or that he wanted to," I added.

"Oh, he wanted to." Felipe didn`t expand but left me to put two and two together.

I knew Eric hadn`t volunteered for the job as Queen Freyda`s consort. He`d been signed up by his maker. I also knew that since Appius wasn`t alive, Eric could have gotten out of the contract. Instead he`d doubled the length of it after thorough negotiation. Granted, one of the reasons he`d given Freyda 200 years instead of 100 was to protect me, and even if it hadn`t worked out very well, I´d appreciated the thought (once I`d gotten over the humiliation of a public divorce).

Eric had also added a clause to the contract saying Pam was to be the Sheriff of Area 5, Eric`s old area. I`d always wondered why a contract with Freyda would have a clause which Felipe was to uphold. What leverage did Eric hold over Felipe? Because what I remembered was how Eric was one of Felipe`s best warriors. Why Felipe would have wanted to lose Eric to a potential enemy had been a puzzle.

And now the last piece to the puzzle was there. Eric had been Felipe`s spy at Queen Freyda`s court.

I looked at Eric, trying to understand his motivations 16 years ago. He`d divorced me but had wanted me to be his mistress. He was going to become Queen Freyda`s consort but also King Felipe`s spy.

A part of me felt sorry for Eric and a part of me was happy I`d declined his offer. I would have been dead within a year since neither of Eric`s two bosses would have wanted me to have distracted him.

When I`d said no to Eric I`d known that I`d probably never see him again. But he`d known the same. I`d been bitter for years after my divorce from Eric but now I wondered what choice Eric really had back then. Was it easy for him to sign the contract with Freyda, or had he tried to look for ways to get out of it? Had he really believed I would join him in Oklahoma, hiding from everyone and being there for him whenever he could get away from his queen?

I looked at Eric and it was as if I saw him with new eyes. The last residue of bitterness was gone but I had nothing to replace it with. Eric had waltzed into my life again and after just two days, my emotions were in turmoil. I`d loved Eric and I`d hated him.

I had no idea what I felt now.

"It seems to me we have to prepare for war," I said to change both the topic of conversation and the one occupying my brain. And to defuse any anger Felipe might have towards me for Eric`s actions.

Felipe nodded and Eric smiled. Eric loved war.

Felipe said, "You will go to Red Rita, Eric. The vampires in Arkansas are very young and they need someone strong to help them." He took a sip of his blood. "I shall take Sookie with me to Las Vegas to make sure you are still my warrior, and not Freyda`s. I have already started rumors about Sookie being my new lover."

I felt my fangs aching to be free and I noticed Eric fists clenching. Were we going to kill our king? Would that be wise?

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**A/N:**

The plot thickens….


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**A/N: **  
Yes, I`m finally back and will keep writing and posting on this story. I never leave my stories - I just take looooong summer vacations (as anyone who`s ever read any of my stories can attest to). I`m sorry for keeping you waiting.

I want to thank **Suki59** for betaing this story. Did you know that she`ll soon have a book published? Under the pen name Suki McMinn she`ll soon have a great book out called Drop Dead Gorgeous. If you check out her website sukimcminn dot com you`ll be able to see the amazing cover of her first book.

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**Dead among Friends and Neighbors - chapter 9**

The room was filled with tension and I`m sure we all calculated our chances of getting out of this fight with all our limbs intact. I figured Eric and I would have a better chance than Felipe de Castro, if it wasn´t for that small fact that he`d brought his men to Sam`s Redneck Roadhouse and that they`d seen him leaving with me.

Why Felipe chose to go home with me without his entourage, I didn`t know, but they would cry murder if he didn`t return.

I was wondering what my chances were of getting away with murdering Felipe (slim to none), trying to figure out who would take over (I had no idea) and how big the general mess would be (it would be huge) when the phone rang.

It was really strange. One moment you considered revolution—the vampire version—and the next moment you were hitting the button to take a call. I hadn`t even considered not answering my phone and it turned out to be the right move too.

I needed to have some automatic machine call me every time I was almost killed in my living room because both Eric and Felipe seemed to relax when I stood up and walked over to the phone. At least they`d stopped murdering each other with their eyes.

The caller`s number was concealed and as I hit the button to accept the call, there was no picture of the person at the other end. Some people were shy, some people were naked and some people just didn`t want the person at the other end to see who they were. I was guessing this person was the latter group.

"Hunter was taken." The voice belonged to a young woman and I knew I`d heard it before.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Some men came and beat up Hunter and took him with them."

And then I remembered whom the voice belonged to. It was Shanna, Hunter`s neighbor. Hunter`s cute neighbor who, according to her own brain, was deeply in love with Hunter and never understood why he kept turning her down.

Hunter liked her too but he`d learned the same lesson I had—you couldn`t date humans if you were a telepath. People think they want to know what their significant others are thinking, but they really don`t. Because peoples` minds are not always a pretty place and boyfriends and girlfriends don`t always have nice thoughts about each other.

So Hunter had stayed away from Shanna. I wasn`t sure if he was dating anyone else but Shanna still had that puppy-look in her eyes every time she saw Hunter.

"I`ll be right over, Shanna," I said and registered her surprise that I`d recognized her.

"Sure," she said. "I`ll be in my apartment."

"Lock your doors until I get there," I said. She was my witness. Nothing could happen to her.

I turned around to look at the two vampires in my living room. Suddenly Felipe`s demand that I go to Las Vegas and play his mistress became unimportant. To me, at least. Probably not to him. But I would gladly pull out one of my shotguns to stop him because in my dead heart there was one mission and one mission only right now. And that was Hunter.

"I have to go," I said.

"You can`t," Felipe said and stood up.

I stared him down and saw him for who he was for the first time. Yes, he was king of three states but he was really a pitiful character. Always in need of admiration but never able to hold onto it. Always in need of power but never really being able to trust he could keep it.

"You know what, Felipe. I can`t go with you to Las Vegas right now. I have a dayman I need to find. And I have church on Sunday night. They have a vampire mass arranged especially for me and I`m supposed to bring my special chocolate cake that I haven`t baked in ages. I think people would notice if I wasn`t there. And then I have a baby shower to attend on Tuesday. Wouldn`t miss that, you know. Not to mention the bachelorette party I´ve been asked to host next Saturday." I paused in my rant but I noticed Felipe taking in everything I said—understanding that I couldn`t just disappear and no one would notice me gone. "My week is full and I can`t come."

Eric`s eyebrows almost met his hairline but he quickly recovered and stood up.

"I`ll help Sookie retrieve this dayman of hers," he said.

"You will go to Red Rita and help her fight your wife." Felipe could hardly contain his anger.

"Ex-wife," Eric said. "I will not be able to reach Arkansas tonight. But I shall meet up with Red Rita first thing tomorrow night."

Felipe nodded. "And I shall send a guard for Sookie. She will be in my keep. If you betray me, Eric, you will have betrayed her one more time." He nodded in my direction. "And this time your betrayal will mean you lose her for good."

And with that Felipe walked out the door. After a few moments I heard a car door slam and I realized that Felipe`s guards had followed us to my house and waited outside. Just as well we didn´t kill Felipe de Castro.

I turned out the lights and Eric followed me to the front door. I turned on the alarm system and then I locked the door. Eric stood outside and waited but when I walked over to my car, he followed me. And when I got in my car, so did he. The air was heavy like one of those nights you know will end in rain but right now it felt heavy with emotions too.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Helping you find your dayman." Eric looked straight ahead as if he was waiting for me to start driving.

"Why?"

He glanced at me and was quiet for a moment. "Your dayman is important to you. I should care about people who are important to you."

"Again, why?"

Eric took an entirely unnecessary breath. It was almost a sigh. "I have had time to think, Sookie. And now I`m back."

He turned back to look out the windshield as if what he`d said explained everything.

"Is that you big declaration? You`ve had time to think?"

I started the car and drove down Hummingbird Road. Hunter lived in a new apartment building close to Piggly Wiggly. It was just three stories high but it was well-built and I`d felt comfortable with Hunter living there on the top floor. Yes, vampires could fly in his window but they would need an invitation first and weres and shifters would have to use the stairs.

I´d always been concerned with Hunter`s safety. If anyone in the supe community had known about Hunter`s ability he would have been picked up before my fangs could pop down to defend him.

I`d tried to get Hunter involved in church work or be an active part of Bon Temps in general, just like Gran had taught me, but Hunter didn`t like being among people. No matter how much I`d told him that it might one day save his life, that his friends and neighbors might save his butt by reporting him missing if vampires snatched him up, Hunter still kept to himself.

I could understand him, of course. It was tedious being among people and hearing every little thought that went through their minds. But it had saved me from Felipe—and it might still save me now. Vampires weren`t stupid. They did not want to rock the boat they were sitting in and give humans an excuse to make all kinds of laws against drinking blood or turning people into vampires.

So they generally left the "visible" humans alone. The pillars of the community. The ones who were supposed to come over for that Friday night barbecue. The churchgoers.

Eric had been quiet while my brain spun in endless circles about Hunter and how I should have forced him to go to church with me. I noticed out of the corner of my eye how he kept shifting in his seat, trying to make room for his long legs. Finally he knocked his fist into the door and made a small dent.

"Hey!" I shouted but before I got to accuse him of ruining my car, he started ranting.

"Why do you always choose these little cars, Sookie? You can afford a better car and you pick a shitty little car with no room at all."

"What?!" How could he insult my perfectly fine Toyota Selectra? It was a fine car, a good car. It was also my first new car. I`d always had used cars until I´d bought this one. Yes, it was five years since I`d bought the car but I could still recall the smell of new car. My pride in getting it.

I stopped the car at the side of the road, opened my door, got out and walked around to Eric`s side of the car. Then I opened his door.

"If you think the car is insulting your pride you can get out and walk to wherever you´re going." I was angry now. He`d come into my life with all kinds of threats hanging over his head and absolutely no warning to me and he had the audacity to say my car was shitty? Even I had limits.

Eric looked at me for a very long time without moving. Then he turned his head away from me.

"I`m sorry," he said and even though I heard him perfectly, I had to ask. Eric was very rarely sorry for anything.

"Excuse me?"

He looked at me again. "I`m sorry you were turned. I know you didn´t want that."

As if heaven itself wanted to emphasize what Eric had just said, a huge roar of thunder rang in my ears and suddenly the rain started pouring.

I ran back to my own side of the car and jumped in before I was soaked through.

"No, I did not want to be turned but I can`t imagine you`re really sorry. This was what you wanted, Eric." I wasn`t bitter at Eric for having been turned. Even if Hot Rain had wanted to get back at Eric, it wasn`t Eric`s fault. But I was apparently still bitter at Eric for having told me he`d planned on turning me back when we were together.

I started driving and noticed Eric looking at me.

"Yes, you`re right, Sookie. I am glad you`ve become a vampire but I`m sorry too since this was not what you wanted. I thought I would never see you again when I left Louisiana. I didn`t realize how …." He stopped and I couldn`t help wondering what the rest of the sentence would be. "I knew I loved you when I left you, Sookie. That was why I wanted you to come with me. But I should have known you would say no."

I nodded. "Yes, you should have."

"And I wish I`d known how much I would miss you." He said that last part as if he was as surprised as I was.

I wasn`t sure what to say because with all my bottled up anger and bitterness, I might just say the wrong thing now and I really wanted to hear the rest of what Eric had on his mind.

He continued. "I am used to marrying people because I have to. It has always been like this, apart from marrying you, Sookie. I told you about Aude?" he asked and I nodded.

Yes, he`d told me about his first wife. His brother`s widow back when he was human.

"I loved Aude after a while but I didn´t marry her for love. And I didn`t marry Freyda for love. I never came to love Freyda and she never loved me. I was her soldier. Her bodyguard."

Piggly Wiggly came up and I drove past it and turned into the road Hunter lived on. I didn`t want to think about how Eric had guarded Freyda`s body. It was not my business.

"I`m not used to making choices based on love," Eric said and I knew this last declaration had cost him.

I wanted to say something profound. Something to make him realize that I appreciated what he`d said but that I wasn´t sure it would change anything for me. Something that might make us comfortable as friends.

I stopped the car outside Hunter`s apartment building and turned to look at Eric.

"I can see that, Eric," was all I could come up with. "And I appreciate that you want to help me find Hunter."

"I know he means something to you, Sookie. This is why I want to help."

I couldn`t help laughing. This was old Eric who didn`t care about my brother when Jason was kidnapped by some crazy werepanthers but who tried to care because of me. And because he`d wanted to have sex with me.

And with that we walked into Hunter`s building.

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**A/N:**

I hope you liked this chapter!

If you want to read more about the Norwegian brothers Ylvis and their song "What Does the Fox say" or about dating Scandinavians (be drunk!) - go read my blog thyra10 dot wordpress dot com.


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